THE NEED FOR an effective body policing the slowly unfolding disaster of the new local government structure is pressingly important. It is therefore welcome that the Select Committee of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is todayhearing evidence on the effectiveness of the Local Government Ombudsman.

The Local Government Act 2000 “reforms” destroyed the distinction between local government officers and councillors. Officers used to be paid but had limited decisionmaking powers. Councillors were unpaid elected representatives. Now they are all paid and officers have greater authority.

Our defence against the misuse of this power is the ombudsman, who investigates “maladministration” leading to “injustice”, a term that he defines.

Of 11,600 complaints sent to the LGO for England in 2003-04, only 180 cases, that is fewer than 1.6 per cent, were found to be “maladministration”. How is such an absurdly low figure reached?

I was given a lesson in ombudsman investigation when I represented a small London community group who suffered legal bullying culminating in a travesty of a hearing. There the organisation was called before a panel and accused of something written on a “secret agenda” so it had to defend itself from a charge of which it had no knowledge.

When this abomination was reported to the ombudsman he found that the abuse of legal services was “not something in which the ombudsman can become involved” as “I believe that the council is entitled to consult whichever officers it believes is appropriate”. Nor could he question the decision to hold such a meeting in confidential session as “this is a decision it (the council) is entitled to reach and not something that the ombudsman can question”. One wonders how much more glaring the injustice has to be before action is taken.

The ombudsman’s office is too close to the organisations it monitors. Two of the three English ombudsmen today are former local authority chief officers; all three deputy ombudsmen worked in local government previously. How can we expect impartiality from people who owe their status and professional background to the local government ethos they are called upon to investigate? A local government complaints commission would at least prevent the absurdity of the guardians guarding themselves.